Illegal Pitch

[HugoTafurst]

Originally Posted by Plate Man

I am in Austin watching the umpires work one of the state games. Montgomery game, because i heard about her being legal or illegal. The U3 is calling illegal, but the problem is that the U1 is not watching the same game. When a runner gets on base and he goes behind second base illegal pitches stop. Which brings me to my point about illegal pitch, i would like some input back on this.

Is it because some umpires are affraid to call them?

They don't know what to look for: in that case they shouldn't be there.. ,

Same team "Montogmery" at Port Author vs LCM, The Houston crew calling illegal pitches, then i heard they were replaced by a San Antinio crew because of the illegal pitches that were called. So i went and watched the crew low and behold, no illegal pitches were called either day. Once again i was there she was illegal. "Affraid to call them"

Now they go to state and illegal pitches are called again.

So why are we as umpires not on the same page?

I'm curious, what was this pitchers offense?
What did you see?
How often did she do it?

[Plate Man]

[/I'm curious, what was this pitchers offense?[
COLOR="Red"][/COLOR]The rule is very simple, pivot foot on top of the plate,push off of the rubber, maintain the ground until the release. You can say crow hop, replant, leaping...
What did you see?
replant on montgomery, and leap on the second game. The Klein collins game is starting in a bit, lets see if it gets any better
How often did she do it? 90 percent of the game. I have film on just the pitcure. thats all im interesed in. The Montgomery pitcher, 95 percent...very few that were legal..I see the UIC in the first base dugout hand signialing keep it down,,,
tomorrows 4A game will be a dusey.....game of the state champ illegal pitcher....

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by HugoTafurst

I'm curious, what was this pitchers offense?
What did you see?
How often did she do it?

She was crow hopping, and from what I'm told, he could have called twice as many as he did call.

[HugoTafurst]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

She was crow hopping, and from what I'm told, he could have called twice as many as he did call.

Maybe the umpire didn't see F1s pivot foot lose contact with the ground?

[Plate Man]

The umpire crew that was brought in contained 2 officials from San Antinio, that have taught clinics in the Houston Area for TASO and UIL. I thought this would reinforce what the umpires had called the night before, but it was not. Reports from other officials that attended the game informed me that no illegal pitches were called from the base umpires allowing one pitcher to crow hop and another to leap. The problem I have with this is that we are instructed to make these calls and when you do you are removed from the games by coaches or now a series by the UIL. And our instructors don't even follow the rules or guidelines they teach in the clinics.
These two actions just reinforced to every umpire in the Houston Chapter to ignore the illegal pitch rule and just let them do what they want.

In the past 2 years I have been scratched due to calling illegal pitches. Part of athletics is to learn to deal with adversity, to adjust the way the game is being called, and to respect officials. The officials owe the teams hustle, good judgment, knowledge of the rules, and to let the game be played on a fair level for both teams. They should enforce ALL the rules as taught in the clinics.
I feel your pain Springtown...